Adapting homes

Adapting homes to help our elderly and disabled tenants to continue living independently in their own homes.

Aids and Adaptations

We provide a comprehensive aids and adaptations service in partnership with Essex County Council Social Care Direct. The aids and adaptations service is invaluable in enabling us to help our elderly and disabled tenants to continue living independently in their own homes. This includes our wheelchair medical assessment, which is done by own Occupational Therapist.

We now offer growing range of housing aids and adaptations to elderly and disabled tenants who must qualify for help following an assessment.

Basildon Council Leaseholders can apply for:

Home Safety Checks

We provide free Home Safety Checks upon request to all tenants over 60 years of age.

The purpose of free home safety checks is to reduce the risks of falls in the home and to offer advice which will help tenants to continue living independently.

Free Home Safety checks are undertaken by our Independent Living Advisor.

Following a Home Safety Check, if the Independent Living Advisor feels there are issues too serious to be resolved by minor works or advice, then the tenant can give permission for the Independent Living Advisor to refer the matter to one of our partner organisations for specialist help.

Contact: See address at right of page.

Aids and Adaptations

Aids and adaptations we commonly fit in the homes of elderly & disabled tenants.

Grab rails

Half steps

Key safes

Outdoor handrails

Specialised toilet

Fixed toilet frames

Wheelchair ramps

Stairlifts

Graded floor showers

Levelled door thresholds

Mopstick banister rails

Lever handled taps

Flashing light indicator systems

Over bath showers

Extra power sockets for specialised equipment and

Kitchen adjustments

Do you qualify?

Applicants for housing aids and adaptations must qualify for help following an assessment before any aids and adaptation work can be carried out.

Depending upon the type of work required, assessments are carried out by fully trained staff from either Essex County Council Social Services or the Social Care Direct Scheme.

Applications for minor works such as lever taps and hand rails are assessed by our own in-house approved assessors.

Applications for major works such as stairlifts and special showers are assessed by Essex County Council Social Care Direct. However our Aids and Adaptations Team , who work partnership with Social Care Direct will be able to advise you whether your application will need to be assessed by Essex County Council Social Services or the Social Care Direct Scheme.

Once your application has been approved.

Once your application has been approved arrangements will be made for the work to be carried out.

There is a high demand for adaptations and there may be a waiting list for some types of work and we will notify you of any waiting time for your adaptations.

Most major adaptation work is undertaken by private contractors appointed by [Basildon Council].

Our Aids and Adaptation team will let you know in advance when to expect contractors to contact you to arrange a convenient time for the work to be carried out.

After the work has been completed we will send you a Service Improvement Questionnaire which you should complete and return to us which helps us to monitor our services and make any improvements if required.

Our contractors.

All our contractors and their operatives have identification cards which you should ask to see.

If you are ever in any doubt whatsoever about the identity or conduct of any of our contractors or their operatives, please contact our Aids and Adaptation team immediately.

The Housing Transfer Plus Scheme

This scheme operates to give an alternative to providing adaptations to your home and where your home is family sized accommodation and is under occupied by one bedroom or more.

To qualify for the Transfer Plus scheme:

An Occupational Therapist must recommend a major adaptation which has not have already been carried out

The type of property required by the tenant must be defined as non-family accommodation which is either a one bedroom flat, a bungalow or sheltered housing.

Where the household contains children under 13 years of age as permanent residents, the new accommodation may be a house with adaptations already in place.

The scheme will identify suitable alternative accommodation that either:

excludes the need for the adaptation. For example, moving from a house to a bungalow will remove the need for a stairlift.

more appropriate for the type adaptation needed. For example, if a level access shower is needed, the installation requirements are more suited to a ground floor flat than a house.

The transferring tenant will be eligible for the assistance for the following services.

Removal costs

Reconnection of utilities, gas, electric and phone

Carpeting of the new property

Properties will be decorated to a standard set by [Basildon Council], as part of the Transfer Plus process.

Disabled Facilities Grant - for leaseholders and owner occupiers

If you are an [Basildon Council] leaseholder and either you or someone living in your property is disabled you may qualify for a disabled facilities grant towards the cost of providing adaptations and facilities to enable the disabled person(s) to continue to live there.